RIYADH, 4 April 2003 — People eager to sell a car in the capital no longer wait until Friday to go to the haraj (used car market) in Naseem district. Instead, they take advantage of unclaimed empty spaces of land to park their cars and stick a contact number on the windshield.

Local authorities do not seem bothered by the phenomenon.

One of the main sales spots is in front of Tamimi supermarket on Thalatheen Street. Every day a large number of cars are parked in the supermarket’s parking lot. New and old, classic and sports, family or sedan — they are all there.

Are you a lover of sports cars? How about a sleek BMW 850i Coupe? Or maybe you’re more of an adventurer who likes off-road driving. In that case, a GMC Yukon will definitely get you thinking. Perhaps you have a large family and like to travel. A 1998 Chevy Van could suit you perfectly.

Classic lovers will have their hands full with a 1955 Ford Custom Line.

However, these cars are parked on private property, Arab News learned. In addition, the cars are attracting more young men to an area already known as a gathering place for Saudi shabab.

“We’ve contacted the police on numerous occasions,” says Elan Thomas, the manager of the supermarket.

He says that the supermarket telephones the car owners one by one and asks them to remove their vehicles. “Sometimes overnight we find one or two cars left, but by morning other cars are parked in their spots.”

The manager says he does not know whether there is a second-hand dealer handling the sale of these cars.

“We’ve put up signs saying that this is private property but they have been ripped down. Some of the car owners offered money to keep their cars there but we refused,” he adds.

A police officer on duty just outside the supermarket told Arab News he could do nothing about this. “Unless the owner of the supermarket files a complaint at the police station we cannot remove those vehicles from the parking lot,” he said.

“A verbal complaint over the phone will not do. The owner needs to go to the police station and submit a formal complaint. Only then can the police department give orders to patrol cars to patrol the area and prevent anyone from parking there. That also applies to cars parked in vacant lots,” the police officer added.

Until the Tamimi owner and other owners of private land file their complaints, the show goes on.